Style and Strategy in the Performance of the Adult Version of the Matching Familiar Figures Test.

Stonner, David M.

The performance of college students on the adolescent-adult version of the Matching Familiar Figures (MFF) test was examined in three studies to determine the effects of strategies on performance. With the standard instructions for the MFF, performance was found to be unrelated to test anxiety or extraversion and was parallel in many respects to the performance of children on the equivalent form of the MFF. Instructions which emphasized accurate performance were effective in reducing errors and increasing latencies, but did not substantially alter the range of performances. Instructions which minimized feedback about performance and eliminated the most obvious cues for implicit strategies indicated that performance was more related to information processing style than to implicit strategies for performance. An alternative means of measuring performance on the MFF which attenuates performance differences that result from implicit strategies and allows for a more meaningful comparison of performances from different studies was proposed. (Author)